The facility, which will sit on a 1.6-hectare site on the Oshima Peninsula in the town of Oi, will have some 1,900 solar panels. In the town, the utility also operates a nuclear power plant, the only nuclear complex currently online in Japan.

The project is part of Fukui Prefecture's plan to promote energy-related research and development. The prefecture is home to the largest concentration of nuclear power facilities in Japan.

Under the plan, a similar solar plant will be built in Takahama, another town in Fukui.